- From Q2 2009 to Q4 2016, economic growth, as measured by the change in real GDP, averaged 2.0 percent. This was slower than the 2.6 percent average from the first quarter of 1989 through the fourth quarter of 2008. During President Bush’s first term, real GDP increased by about 3%, but barely 0.5 percent during his second. GDP growth was close to 4% during the Clinton administration, somewhat quicker than the Reagan administration.
- Real GDP increased by $2.4 trillion (16.6%) from $14.4 trillion in Q1 2009 to $16.8 trillion in Q4 2016, a total increase of $2.4 trillion. Real GDP per capita increased by $4,593 (or 9.7%) from $46,930 in 2009 to $51,523 in 2016 (a new high).
- During his presidency, inflation (as assessed by the CPI-All Urban Consumers, All Items) plummeted to an all-time low, averaging 1.4 percent from Q2 2009 to Q4 2016, significantly below the 3.0 percent average from Q1 1989 to Q4 2008.
- Interest rates declined as well, and they stayed extremely low. From Q2 2009 to Q4 2016, the yield on a 10-year Treasury bond averaged 2.4 percent, substantially below the 5.8 percent average from Q1 1989 to Q4 2008.
- The national debt held by the public increased by $8.1 trillion or 128 percent from $6.3 trillion on January 31, 2009 to $14.4 trillion on December 31, 2016. When expressed as a percentage of GDP, it increased from 52.3 percent in 2009 to 76 percent in 2016. In contrast to Obama’s actions, the majority of the debt rise was inherited from the previous administration (e.g., tax cuts and wars) or was caused by the Great Recession (e.g., decreased revenue and greater automatic stabilizer expenditure).
- The national debt (public debt + intra-governmental debt) increased by $9.4 trillion, or 88 percent, from $10.6 trillion on January 31, 2009 to $20.0 trillion on December 31, 2016.
- Obama presided over the third-longest economic boom of the 33 expansions examined since 1857, as well as the longest continuous period of private sector employment creation since 1939.
What was Obama’s contribution to the country?
Barack Obama’s term as President of the United States began on January 20, 2009, with his first inauguration, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, was elected president after defeating Republican contender John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. He was re-elected four years later, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. Obama was followed by Donald Trump, a Republican who won the presidential election in 2016. He was the first African-American president, as well as the first multiracial, non-white, and Hawaiian president.
A significant stimulus package, a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts, health-care reform legislation, a big financial-regulation reform law, and the termination of a major US military presence in Iraq were among Obama’s first-term actions. Obama also named Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the latter of whom became the Supreme Court’s first Hispanic American. Until Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Following the election, Obama and congressional Republicans got into a long fight over government spending and the debt ceiling. The Obama administration’s anti-terrorism strategy downplayed Bush’s counterinsurgency strategy, relying more on host-government militaries and extending air strikes and special forces deployments. The military operation that culminated in Osama bin Laden’s murder on May 2, 2011, was orchestrated by the Obama administration.
Obama took moves to tackle climate change during his second term, signing a major international climate pact and an executive order limiting carbon emissions. Obama also oversaw the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other laws signed into law during his first term, as well as the negotiation of a nuclear deal with Iran and normalization of relations with Cuba. During Obama’s second term, the number of American forces in Afghanistan decreased considerably, however American troops remained in Afghanistan throughout his presidency. Following the 2014 elections, Republicans took control of the Senate, and Obama continued to clash with them on government spending, immigration, judicial nominees, and other matters.
In 2008, what was the GDP?
The US economy is improving. As can be seen in the ranking of GDP of the 196 nations that we publish, the United States is the world’s leading economy in terms of GDP, with a total of $14,769,900 million in 2008.
What is the current GDP?
Retail and wholesale trade industries led the increase in private inventory investment. The largest contributor to retail was inventory investment by automobile dealers. Increases in both products and services contributed to the increase in exports. Consumer products, industrial supplies and materials, and foods, feeds, and beverages were the biggest contributions to the growth in goods exports. Travel was the driving force behind the increase in service exports. The rise in PCE was mostly due to an increase in services, with health care, recreation, and transportation accounting for the majority of the increase. The increase in nonresidential fixed investment was mostly due to a rise in intellectual property items, which was partially offset by a drop in structures.
The reduction in federal spending was mostly due to lower defense spending on intermediate goods and services. State and local government spending fell as a result of lower consumption (driven by state and local government employee remuneration, particularly education) and gross investment (led by new educational structures). The rise in imports was mostly due to a rise in goods (led by non-food and non-automotive consumer goods, as well as capital goods).
After gaining 2.3 percent in the third quarter, real GDP increased by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. The fourth-quarter increase in real GDP was primarily due to an increase in exports, as well as increases in private inventory investment and PCE, as well as smaller decreases in residential fixed investment and federal government spending, which were partially offset by a decrease in state and local government spending. Imports have increased.
In the fourth quarter, current dollar GDP climbed 14.3% on an annual basis, or $790.1 billion, to $23.99 trillion. GDP climbed by 8.4%, or $461.3 billion, in the third quarter (table 1 and table 3).
In the fourth quarter, the price index for gross domestic purchases climbed 6.9%, compared to 5.6 percent in the third quarter (table 4). The PCE price index climbed by 6.5 percent, compared to a 5.3 percent gain in the previous quarter. The PCE price index grew 4.9 percent excluding food and energy expenses, compared to 4.6 percent overall.
Personal Income
In the fourth quarter, current-dollar personal income climbed by $106.3 billion, compared to $127.9 billion in the third quarter. Increases in compensation (driven by private earnings and salaries), personal income receipts on assets, and rental income partially offset a decline in personal current transfer receipts (particularly, government social assistance) (table 8). Following the end of pandemic-related unemployment programs, the fall in government social benefits was more than offset by a decrease in unemployment insurance.
In the fourth quarter, disposable personal income grew $14.1 billion, or 0.3 percent, compared to $36.7 billion, or 0.8 percent, in the third quarter. Real disposable personal income fell 5.8%, compared to a 4.3 percent drop in the previous quarter.
In the fourth quarter, personal savings totaled $1.34 trillion, compared to $1.72 trillion in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the personal saving rate (savings as a percentage of disposable personal income) was 7.4 percent, down from 9.5 percent in the third quarter.
GDP for 2021
In 2021, real GDP climbed 5.7 percent (from the 2020 annual level to the 2021 annual level), compared to a 3.4 percent fall in 2020. (table 1). In 2021, all major subcomponents of real GDP increased, led by PCE, nonresidential fixed investment, exports, residential fixed investment, and private inventory investment. Imports have risen (table 2).
PCE increased as both products and services increased in value. “Other” nondurable items (including games and toys as well as medications), apparel and footwear, and recreational goods and automobiles were the major contributors within goods. Food services and accommodations, as well as health care, were the most significant contributors to services. Increases in equipment (dominated by information processing equipment) and intellectual property items (driven by software as well as research and development) partially offset a reduction in structures in nonresidential fixed investment (widespread across most categories). The rise in exports was due to an increase in products (mostly non-automotive capital goods), which was somewhat offset by a drop in services (led by travel as well as royalties and license fees). The increase in residential fixed investment was primarily due to the development of new single-family homes. An increase in wholesale commerce led to an increase in private inventory investment (mainly in durable goods industries).
In 2021, current-dollar GDP expanded by 10.0 percent, or $2.10 trillion, to $22.99 trillion, compared to 2.2 percent, or $478.9 billion, in 2020. (tables 1 and 3).
In 2021, the price index for gross domestic purchases climbed by 3.9 percent, compared to 1.2 percent in 2020. (table 4). Similarly, the PCE price index grew 3.9 percent, compared to 1.2 percent in the previous quarter. The PCE price index climbed 3.3 percent excluding food and energy expenses, compared to 1.4 percent overall.
Real GDP rose 5.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2021 (table 6), compared to a 2.3 percent fall from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020.
From the fourth quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2021, the price index for gross domestic purchases grew 5.5 percent, compared to 1.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020. The PCE price index climbed by 5.5 percent, compared to 1.2 percent for the year. The PCE price index increased 4.6 percent excluding food and energy, compared to 1.4 percent overall.
Source Data for the Advance Estimate
A Technical Note that is issued with the news release on BEA’s website contains information on the source data and major assumptions utilized in the advance estimate. Each version comes with a thorough “Key Source Data and Assumptions” file. Refer to the “Additional Details” section below for information on GDP updates.
Who was the most effective President?
Historians frequently list Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George Washington as the three most highly regarded presidents. Recent presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are frequently ranked among the best in popular opinion polls, although presidential experts and historians do not agree. Because both William Henry Harrison (31 days) and James A. Garfield (200 days, incapacitated after 119 days) died soon after assuming office, they are sometimes overlooked in presidential rankings. Despite the fact that Zachary Taylor only served as president for 16 months, he is frequently included in the list. It’s unclear whether these three received low ratings because of their activities as presidents or because they were in power for such a short period of time that they didn’t accomplish much.
The “dichotomous or schizoid features” of presidents, according to political scientist Walter Dean Burnham, make it difficult to categorize them. “There are presidents who could be called both failures and great or near great (for example, Nixon),” historian Alan Brinkley said. “How can one evaluate such an unusual ruler, so smart and yet morally lacking?” historian and political scientist James MacGregor Burns wondered about Nixon. It’s also unclear if absolute rankings matter much, especially for presidents in the middle. The Times’ US editor, Gerard Baker, writes, “On a chart, the 42 American presidents fall into a well-known Bell-curve or normal distribution, with a few standouts, a few duds, and a lot of so-sos. In all honesty, I couldn’t claim that number 13 on the list is significantly better than number 30.”
What did Obama do after graduating from college?
Obama was born in the Hawaiian city of Honolulu. He worked as a community organizer in Chicago after graduating from Columbia University in 1983. He entered Harvard Law School in 1988 and served as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a civil rights attorney and an academic after graduation, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 until 2004. Returning to electoral politics, he served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, when he ran for the United States Senate. With his March Senate primary victory, his well-received July Democratic National Convention keynote address, and his overwhelming November election to the Senate, Obama gained national notoriety in 2004. He was nominated for president by the Democratic Party in 2008, a year after launching his campaign and following a close primary race against Hillary Clinton. Obama was inaugurated alongside his running mate Joe Biden on January 20, 2009, after defeating Republican contender John McCain in the general election. He was selected the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient nine months later, a choice that received both praise and condemnation.
During Obama’s first two years in office, he signed numerous major measures into law. The Affordable Care Act (ACA or “Obamacare”), which does not offer a public health insurance alternative, the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 are the most important reforms. During the Great Recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as well as the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act, functioned as economic stimulus. He signed the Budget Control and American Taxpayer Relief Acts after a long discussion over the national debt limit. In terms of foreign policy, he expanded US troop numbers in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons through the New START Treaty between the US and Russia, and halted military engagement in the Iraq War. Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen and alleged al-Qaeda operative, was killed in a drone attack by Obama in 2011, sparking outrage. He ordered military intervention in Libya in order to carry out UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which helped to depose Muammar Gaddafi. He also oversaw the military operation that led to Osama bin Laden’s killing.
Obama was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013, after defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney in re-election. During his term, he advocated for LGBT Americans’ inclusiveness. His administration filed filings urging the Supreme Court to declare same-sex marriage bans illegal (United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges); after the Court ruled in Obergefell, same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2015. In reaction to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, he fought for gun regulation, indicated support for a ban on assault weapons, and launched sweeping executive orders on global warming and immigration. In foreign policy, he ordered military interventions in Iraq and Syria in response to ISIL gains following the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, promoted discussions that led to the 2015 Paris Agreement on global climate change, oversaw and eventually apologized for the deadly Kunduz hospital airstrike, drew down U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2016, initiated sanctions against Russia following the annexation of Crimea and again after interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, and drew down U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2017. Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were approved as Supreme Court justices by Obama, while Merrick Garland was denied hearings and a vote by the Republican-controlled Senate. Obama resigned from the presidency on January 20, 2017, yet he still lives in Washington, D.C.
The United States’ international reputation, as well as the American economy, dramatically improved under Obama’s presidency. Obama’s presidency has received largely positive reviews, with historians, political scientists, and the general public consistently ranking him within the top tier of American presidents. Obama has stayed involved in Democratic politics since leaving office, including campaigning for candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, speaking at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, and supporting Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Obama has written three blockbuster novels outside of politics: Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006), and A Promised Land (2008). (2020).
In 2021, what was the GDP?
In addition to updated fourth-quarter projections, today’s announcement includes revised third-quarter 2021 wages and salaries, personal taxes, and government social insurance contributions, all based on new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program. Wages and wages climbed by $306.8 billion in the third quarter, up $27.7 billion from the previous estimate. With the addition of this new statistics, real gross domestic income is now anticipated to have climbed 6.4 percent in the third quarter, a 0.6 percentage point gain over the prior estimate.
In 2021, real GDP climbed by 5.7 percent, unchanged from the previous estimate (from the 2020 annual level to the 2021 annual level), compared to a 3.4 percent fall in 2020. (table 1). In 2021, all major components of real GDP increased, led by PCE, nonresidential fixed investment, exports, residential fixed investment, and private inventory investment. Imports have risen (table 2).
In 2021, current-dollar GDP climbed by 10.1 percent (revised), or $2.10 trillion, to $23.00 trillion, compared to 2.2 percent, or $478.9 billion, in 2020. (tables 1 and 3).
In 2021, the price index for gross domestic purchases climbed 3.9 percent, which was unchanged from the previous forecast, compared to 1.2 percent in 2020. (table 4). Similarly, the PCE price index grew 3.9 percent, which was unchanged from the previous estimate, compared to a 1.2 percent gain. With food and energy prices excluded, the PCE price index grew 3.3 percent, unchanged from the previous estimate, compared to 1.4 percent.
Real GDP grew 5.6 (revised) percent from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2021 (table 6), compared to a fall of 2.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020.
From the fourth quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2021, the price index for gross domestic purchases climbed 5.6 percent (revised), compared to 1.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020. The PCE price index grew 5.5 percent, unchanged from the previous estimate, versus a 1.2 percent increase. The PCE price index grew 4.6 percent excluding food and energy, which was unchanged from the previous estimate, compared to 1.4 percent.
In 2021, which country will have the greatest GDP?
What are the world’s largest economies? According to the International Monetary Fund, the following countries have the greatest nominal GDP in the world:
What was the 2017 GDP?
The US economy is growing at a rate of 2.3 percent. As can be seen in the ranking of GDP of the 196 nations that we publish, the United States is the world’s leading economy in terms of GDP, with a total of $19,479,600 million in 2017.
What is the highest US GDP ever?
From 1960 to 2020, GDP in the United States averaged 7680.13 USD Billion, with a top of 21433.22 USD Billion in 2019 and a low of 543.30 USD Billion in 1960.
How much debt does America have?
“Parties in power have built up the deficit through increased spending and poorer tax collection, regardless of political affiliation,” says Brian Rehling, head of Global Fixed Income Strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
While it’s easy to suggest that a specific president or president’s administration led the federal deficit and national debt to move in a given direction, it’s crucial to remember that only Congress has the power to pass legislation that has the greatest impact on both figures.
Here’s how Congress responded during four major presidential administrations, and how their decisions affected the deficit and national debt.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
FDR served as the country’s last four-term president, guiding the country through a series of economic downturns. His administration spanned the Great Depression, and his flagship New Deal economic recovery plan aided America’s rebound from its financial abyss. The expense of World War II, however, contributed nearly $186 billion to the national debt between 1942 and 1945, making it the greatest substantial rise to the national debt. During FDR’s presidency, Congress added $236 billion to the national debt, a rise of 1,048 percent.
Ronald Reagan
Congress passed two major tax cuts during Reagan’s two administrations, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 and the Tax Reform Act of 1986, both of which reduced government income. Between 1982 and 1990, Congress passed Acts that reduced revenue as a percentage of GDP by 1.7 percent, resulting in a revenue shortfall that contributed to the national debt rising 261 percent ($1.26 trillion) during his presidency, from $924.6 billion to $2.19 trillion.
Barack Obama
The Obama administration oversaw both the Great Recession and the recovery that followed the collapse of the mortgage market throughout his two years in office. The Economic Stimulus Act of 2009, which pumped $831 billion into the economy and helped many Americans avoid foreclosure, was passed by Congress in 2009. When passed by a strong bipartisan vote, congressional tax cuts added extra $858 billion to the national debt. During Obama’s two terms in office, Congress increased the national deficit by 74% and added $8.6 trillion to the national debt.
Donald Trump
Congress approved the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, slashing corporate and personal income tax rates, during his single term. The cuts, which were seen as a bonanza for the wealthiest Americans and corporations at the time of their passage, were expected by the Congressional Budget Office to increase the government deficit by $1.9 trillion at the time of their passing.
The federal deficit climbed from $665 billion in 2017 to $3.13 trillion in 2020, despite the Treasury Secretary’s prediction that the tax cuts would reduce it. Some of the rise was due to tax cuts, but the majority of the increase was due to successive Covid relief programs.
The public’s share of the federal debt has risen from $14.6 trillion in 2017 to more than $21 trillion in 2020. The national debt is made up of public debt and intragovernmental debt (amounts owed to federal retirement trust funds such as the Social Security Trust Fund). It refers to the amount of money owed by the United States to external debtors such as American banks and investors, corporations, people, state and municipal governments, the Federal Reserve, and foreign governments and international investors such as Japan and China. The money is borrowed in order to keep the United States running. Treasury banknotes, notes, and bonds are included. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), US savings bonds, and state and local government series securities are among the other holders of public debt.
“The national debt is growing at a rate it hasn’t seen in decades,” says James Cassel, chairman and co-founder of Cassel Salpeter, an investment bank. “This is the outcome of the basic principle of spending more money than you earn.” Cassel also points out that while both major political parties have spoken seriously about reducing the national debt at times, discussions and strategies have stopped.
When both sides pose discussing raising the debt ceiling each year, the national debt is more typically utilized as a bargaining chip. The United States would default on its debt obligations if the debt ceiling was not raised. As a result, Congress always votes to raise the debt ceiling (the maximum amount of money the US government may borrow), but only after parties have reached an agreement on other legislation.